The Islanders welcomed the injury plagued
Columbus Blue Jackets to the NVMC last night and they came out like the team we
have been accustomed to watching in the first half of the opening period
building a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, they
got sloppy and gave up that lead as the CBJ tied the game before the first
intermission. What would happen in the
later stages of the contest? Read on.
Forwards:
Lee-Tavares-Bailey,
Grabovski-Nielsen-Strome, Kulemin-Nelson-Clutterbuck, Martin-Cizikas-McDonald.
Defensive Pairings: Leddy-Boychuk, Strait-Hamonic,
Hickey-Visnovsky.
Jaroslav Halak is in net
with Chad Johnson backing up.
The first period saw a
dominant start by the Islanders. The
first line dictated play with Josh Bailey (Tavares & Lee) finding the net
twice in the first eight minutes. That
2-0 lead would hold until the Islanders changed their style of play, something
that has been an alarming tendency for a team that has been so good, most of
the time. Columbus would tie the score (Dubinsky
& Atkinson) before the second intermission, despite being outshot 16-1 to
start the period, that finished with a 17-11 Islanders advantage in shots. Strome & the Blue Jackets’ Foligno would
trade goals for their respective teams in the second to head to the third tied
at 3-3. Columbus was playing a much
better game and fought back physically to erase two NY leads. Their rookie goaltender, Forsberg had a rough
start, but improved as well and was keeping them on pace in the game.
The third was another
statement period by the Islanders as Frans Nielsen (Hickey & Grabovski) put
them ahead for the night with what would be the start of another dominating
period of play. The Isles moved the puck
well and played hard throughout, behind the example of their captain. John Tavares (Lee & Strait) - (Bailey
& Lee) would score twice to give the Isles the 6-3 win. Jaro Halak was huge in the third, repelling
all 19 Columbus shots for his 31st win of the season. He was 34 of 37 with a .914Sv%. The Isles ended up outshooting Columbus 46-37
in the game. They struggled again, going
0/4 on the PP. They were improved on the
PK with a 4/4 effort on the night.
John Tavares lead by example
again and finished the night with 2 & 2 for 4 pts, Anders Lee had another
impressive game with 4 points and Josh Bailey was very good, scoring 2 goals and
adding an assist. Anders Lee is 1st
among rookies (5th in the NHL) in GWG with 6, 3rd in rookie goals with 18 and
7th in rookie points with 27. It was Lee’s
first multi-assist game of his career.
More juicy stats: Isles top line
w 11 points (most by trio since 2007) -- 19 over NHL -.500 for 1st time since
1983-84; 37 W in 1st 56 for 1st x since 81-82, per Eric Hornick. I don’t think Lee is going or moving anywhere
on this team anytime soon.
John Tavares, Josh
Bailey & Frans Nielsen were the three stars of the game. Tavares & Lee were named the first &
second stars of the night as designated by the NHL.
The Isles were able to
comeback three times and overcome their mistakes yet again to get the
victory. This win was the Isles 4th
in a row and puts them at 37-18-1 with 75 pts in 56 games played, good enough
for 1st, with a 3 pt lead in the metro and 1 pt out of first (Montreal)
in the eastern conference.
Isles Notes:
Matt Carkner has been
removed from the team's IR list and placed on waivers. He will most likely go unclaimed, report to
the BST & get into game shape, adding to the Isles emergency depth.
Calvin de Haan was
scratched again last night along with Matt Donovan. Not a move I understand.
Per Arthur Staple, “Isles
have had 3 three-game losing streaks this season. Next five games after each
streak: 5-0-0, 4-1-0, 4-1-0.”
“2009 Draft may turn out
to be Isles signature year: Tavares (1st overall), de Haan (12th), Cizikas (92)
and Lee (152) all playing key roles.”
Per The Score, “Islanders,
Leddy discussing long-term contract extension.”
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